"Ay, but I won't, for I like the thirteenth best of all," laughed the little beauty.
"You'll rue the day if you marry him," cried Aura Stanley sharply.
She leaned against a rose-wreathed pillar of the porch, a tall girl in pink, with hard black eyes and thick brown hair in a rich braid. She lived next door and was the village lawyer's only daughter.
Before the Conways came here to live, five weeks ago, Aura had been called the prettiest girl in the village, but now the town was divided into two factions over the rival beauties, and among those who had gone over to the enemy was one on whom Aura's passionate heart was set.
"You'll rue the day, Ladybird, if you marry him," repeated Aura angrily, and held up her shapely white hand, on which glittered a splendid diamond ring; but, to her surprise and horror, the little dancing madcap laughed and answered teasingly:
"Nonsense! I'll be wearing that ring in a week, Aura."
"Never! I'll throw it in the river first," flashed Aura, and Aunt Prue caught the glance of jealous hate in the girl's black eyes.
She exclaimed soothingly:
"Aura, the child is only teasing thee. She does not want thy lover, dear."
Ladybird Conway turned her laughing hazel eyes on the old lady and protested gayly: